


Stood Me Up

by Planetargo



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Apologies, Eleven | Jane Hopper & Maxine "Max" Mayfield Friendship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends, Gay, I'm Sorry, Inspired by Stranger Things (TV 2016), Jim "Chief" Hopper Lives, M/M, Redemption, Talking, good friend, mike wheeler - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2019-07-10
Packaged: 2020-06-25 23:24:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19755886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Planetargo/pseuds/Planetargo
Summary: Billy had a date, until It was clear that Heather wasn't going to show up anymore. Billy has never been stood up before, not once in his life. So instead of going home and just forgetting about it, he heads to the park to wallow on the swing set. That is until Harrington shows up with a flashlight as he looks for Ms. Henderson's cat.





	Stood Me Up

**Author's Note:**

> This one was fun. I just felt that i needed to do a fic with Billy and Steve talking it out. Maybe one that wasn't full of them insulting each other. But yeah, enjoy! Also, pls leave some comments and tell me what you think. If you guys have any ideas for fics i could write just let me know.

This bitch...

Billy waited under the big oak tree out by the park for a good hour. Still, no sign of Heather. It took him a long time before he was ready to admit that she might not show up. He knew he had come to the right place. He can clearly remember the conversation they had at the pool as he was switching to the lifeguard tower. But she never showed.  
Billy didn't know how to feel about her being a no show. Mad? Sad? Should he even care at all? Well he did. Most girls in this town hunted after guys like Billy. He knew that in Hawkins he was at the top of the food chain, so to think that this chick with a pea sized brain stood him up for, who knows what. It kinda pissed Billy off. Not like he hasn't done the same shit to countless girls. But its different when its happening to him.  
And yeah, it wasn't like they were going to do much other than make out and maybe do some other shit.  
But still...

Billy Kicked the Stupid oak tree he had been waiting at for what felt like ages. And instantly regretted it.  
"Fuck!" He yelled. This was just a shitty night. And not only a shitty night but a shitty day as well.  
Max had been difficult since the minute he woke up this morning. She wouldn't hurry up in the bath room, wouldn't take the trash out when he clearly told her to. Not only max but he forgot to read his book for his English-lit last night so in class he didn't know what the fuck they were talking about.  
This date was supposed to wash all of that away. It was supposed to remind Billy that even though he was a dick and the world always shit on him, he did have something going for him self. And of course. Heather Peruse didn't fucking show up.  
So he made his way across the street, and in to the park grounds. It was around 11:30 and the skies were dark and lonely. It was also super quiet outside. But Billy didn't worry. The park was to close to a bunch of neighborhood houses for anything to happen to Billy with out them hearing him.  
He walked aimlessly through the small pathway that led up to the playground.  
when picking up max he was so used to seeing little brats with sticky fingers climbing all over this thing. They would always scream and cry about dumb shit that was in no way larger than life. And then he remember he used to be like that. Always crying about things that didn't matter, throwing fits over nothing. Billy used to be one of those annoying brats.  
But he wasn't anymore, as far as he could tell.  
He found a swing set and took and seat, cringing at the way the rusty metal screeched at him. And yeah, that made him fear the idea of the chains breaking and him falling on his back.  
Billy sat there quietly to himself, swinging his legs back and forth. He just enjoyed the peace and quiet while he could. Billy missed peace and quiet. His house lately has been far from that. Neil has had something shoved up his ass for weeks now and its only made him harder to live with. Billy never understood why his dad so was mad all the time. Did he even have a reason to be?  
Billy did, Billy always did.  
Suddenly there was a rustling in the woods next to the slide followed by the calling of...? Billy didn't know what the hell they were saying. It sounded like some type of cooing.  
But then they did it again. "Meeeewwwws! Mews where are you, you dumb ass cat!" And then it clicked in Billy's mind. They must have lost something.  
"Here kitty kitty you little shit." And then the figure came out of the dark into the light of the street lamp.  
"Harrington?" Billy questioned. What the hell was he doing?  
Steve had a flash light in his hands and was holding a small jar of what he could guess was treats. once he looked at Billy his face morphed in to one of annoyance.  
"Ah hell." He said while rolling his eyes.  
"Yeah, ya know. I keep catching you doing real creepy shit Harrington. First it was with the kids in the Byers house, and now its this?"  
Steve put his hands on his hips and scoffed. "I could say the same thing Hargrove, what are you waiting for? Some little kids to pop up so you can take them home?"  
And Billy realized that he had been sitting here, in a park, in the middle of the night. Yeah he totally looked like a creep.  
"Yeah well I'm waiting on someone, but its not a kid." Billy said. He could tell that when he said that he showed just a little to much disappointment in his tone.  
"Wow. That doesn't make what you're doing any less weird." Steve walked over to the slide and poked his flashlight inside. He was searching for something.  
"Well then what are you doing on this fine night? I know your not just taking a stroll in the park."  
Steve let his body lean against the plastic tube of the slide. He sighed and rubbed his eyes. "I'm looking for the Henderson's cat. It ran away, I hope." Steve said with uncertainty.  
"You hope?" Billy couldn't help but chuckle and add a teasing smile.  
"Yeah, I mean that's better than assuming its dead, so I like to keep an open mind about it."  
Billy didn't really have much to say about that. But what the hell was he doing looking for the Henderson's cat? He knew Steve has taken up the role of the new Babysitter in town, but on a Saturday night?  
"What are you doing with the Hendersons'?" Steve paused as he was looking around the sandbox.  
"I uh, I watch Dustin sometimes. His mom goes to book club so I just help out." Billy wouldn't call the look on Steve's face embarrassment, but more like he was kinda disappointed in himself.  
Hey, if Billy was spending his Saturday night watching a thirteen year old he would be to.  
"So what, You babysit all the kids in town now? He wasn't trying to insult him, but it came out that way.  
"Why do you care? I didn't know you payed attention like that." Steve raised his eyebrows at Billy, almost testing him.  
"I don't. But my sister does. She's the one that hangs out with them." And yeah, what he said probably could have been a little bit cooler, or meaner, but for some reason he didn't have it in him to act that way. he had already had a bad night, the last thing he wanted to do was start a petty argument with the Harrington boy.  
Steve took another trip around the playground looking for the cat. He searched in the slide one more time, around the trees, under any stands or tunnels. And then he looked as though he finally gave up. Steve sighed and turned off the flash light.  
The last things Billy ever thought would happen is Steve taking a seat in the swing next to him. It made Billy's heart beat just a little bit faster.  
There was silence between them that Billy wanted to break so bad.  
But Steve did it for him.  
"So what's the real reason you're out tonight." He looked at Billy, eyes looking somewhat interested.  
"I had a date." Billy regrettably said. He didn't want to tell Harrington that Heather didn't show up. He didn't want to be looked at like a loser. But he didn't feel like lying. Billy wiped his hand over his face.  
"She stood me up." He mumbled. He wasn't expecting to hear stifled laughter coming from Steve. He should have been mad, pissed that this guy was laughing at him right now, but Billy took one look at Steve's smiling face and all the energy spilled out of him.  
"That funny to you?" Billy asked, in no way mean, but as a simple question.  
"Yes." Steve said bluntly while still smiling. "Very much."  
"Why?" Billy raised his eyes to meet Steve's.  
"Because. Billy Hargrove, women killer, got stood up on a Saturday night by a Hawkins girl. It just feels nice to know that even you get turned down sometimes." Steve stretched his long legs out. "But don't worry, plenty of bitches in the sea right?" And then Billy remembered, he told Harrington that. That was his line.  
He couldn't help the smile that crawled on to his face. Steve was contagious.  
"Yeah, plenty."  
The silence grew between them, but neither of the boys wanted to break it. There was a small breeze on this spring night. It was nice. It was just the two of them sitting in each others company. Which Billy found incredibly strange. He has never spoken this much to Steve in his life. And now suddenly on one Saturday night the two of them majestically meet up by accident and start talking like they were friends?  
Billy looked at Steve and the other was staring off in to space. Completely out of it.  
Billy thought back to was he has done in the past, specifically to Steve. He had beat him so bad, and over what? Max leaving the house unannounced, and his dad giving him a hard time for it? It was bullshit. At the time it didn't feel that way but now looking back on it. He feel digested with himself.  
Steve didn't deserve that. He was a good guy that babysat old moms kids so that they could go to book club, he was a loyal friend to his ex even though she fucked him over. He was being kind to the guy that gave him a concussion back in November... and Billy felt bad.  
Billy had never apologized. He never wanted to. He was to busy blaming the world for his shit to even notice how he treated others. But now? He wanted to make things right.  
"Harrington..." He said quietly.  
"What." Steve looked his way, was looking at him.  
This was hard for Billy to do. Stuff like this didn't come easy to him. But hell if he wasn't going to try.  
"What I did to you. In November." Steve's eyes widened. Like thinking about the memory hurt. Which Billy's sure it did.  
"I was wrong. I hurt you really bad. Not even that but since the beginning I was a dick to you."  
Steve wasn't looking at him anymore, he was just looking straight ahead.  
"I know I'm fucked up, But... I'm not a bad person." Billy closed his eyes. That's not how he wanted that to go. But those words just felt right.  
"I know you're not." Steve agreed but Billy kept going.  
"I'm just mad. Mad at everything. And that night something happened that set me off..." Billy thought about his dad, and how he called him a faggot. "I just wanted to hurt someone so bad, and I couldn't do it to max, or that kid she hangs out with, so I did it to you."  
Steve was so quiet.  
"And you wanna know what the fucked up thing was? I was so fucking thrilled when you hit me. Like you gave me permission to hit back. I wanted that fight Steve, I wanted you to hurt."  
His heart was beating so fucking fast, so fast. He took a shaky breath.  
"And you did..." Another breath, "I almost killed you." The last part was barley above a whisper.  
"And now everyone and everything is afraid of me." Billy didn't know there would be tears running down his face, if he did he would have avoided this conversation as fast as he could. But he just felt so tired to being strong and macho. Billy never cries, ever. And now he really wanted to.  
Every person in his life has always left him, physically or not. They always leave him in some way. And he just felt so alone, so sad. No body liked Billy, Not even Billy liked Billy. And that was the worst part yet.  
He had forgotten Steve was there. Completely oblivious, But Steve wasn't.  
Steve understood Billy. There was a time when he was in that position, maybe not as bad, but he knew.  
"I... I know what you mean." Steve swallowed.  
"I was such an asshole before you came here. I was one to everyone. My friends, my family," Steve thought about Nancy. "My girlfriend."  
"I just couldn't seem to get over my self." Billy chuckled with a small sniffle following it.  
"And you have now?" Billy teased, and Steve smiled. There was little tickle in his hand, almost like an electricity.  
"I did awful things to the people I cared about. At the time I just couldn't see it." Steve's smiled faltered. "It took me losing everything for me to understand that I had to change. That I needed to be better."  
Billy frowned his brows and sighed. "Its hard to do that by yourself."  
"That's why I had Nancy." He smiled to himself sadly. She was the one that showed him the way, told him how to be better.  
"She helped show me how I acted. You just need to find that person in your life. The one who can help lift you up." His own speech was lifting his spirits in a way It never had, but for Billy he stilled and shook his head.  
"You see, I don't have someone like that Harrington. Not even my fucking sister wants anything to do with me. You act like its so easy but its not. I've burned all my bridges." Billy looked frustrated, and Steve could understand why. But then it occurred to Steve that just maybe, in this fucked up little relationship that him and Billy share, there could be a chance that Steve could be the one to help Lift Billy. He could be the one to help shine a light in his directions, because he really fucking needed it.  
"You haven't burned ours yet." Steve was very un sure bout this plan, hell he didn't even know if Billy wanted his help.  
"Are you kidding me? Did you not here was I said about me almost killing you! And please think about the fact that if Max hadn't drugged me then that probably would have happened. You would have been dead, You would not be talking to me right now!" Billy's face was red and had began yelling.  
Steve's face became sad, and his heart sank for the broken boy in front of him. Everything Billy was saying was true, never been truer, But Steve couldn't sit and watch this guy live his life angry and alone. He knew Billy wanted to be better, he had expressed that enough. Steve wanted to do right.  
"I know!" Steve yelled back. "I'm pretty fucking aware of that, but if I don't help you than no one will and then you'll go no where! You'll piss off the wrong person one day and get killed, or you'll end up being lonely and friendless for the rest of your life. If I know I can prevent that then I'm gonna try."  
"What the actual fuck... " Billy was at a loss for words. How was he Supposed to process this? Nothing that was coming out of Steve's mouth was normal. None of it.  
"I'm not going to force you if you don't want to man. Its your life. I just, I just really think that you are more than some asshole that everyone thinks you are. like everyone thought I was, you deserve a chance." Steve wasn't gonna push anymore, he thinks he has made his point.  
Billy sat there, hands in his hair trying to process everything that has been said from both of them. Billy wanted to be better, he did. He also didn't want to be alone for the rest of his life either. He knew he could change, and he knew he couldn't do it alone. So why the hell was it so hard for him to except Steve's help?  
"I--- I want to be better Steve." And that might have been the first time he's called him by his first name. And it really shouldn't have made his chest flutter the way it did.  
"I can help." Those three words were enough to send tears prickling into Billy's eyes. They were the most honest words he has heard in a long time. Billy was going to fix this, they were going to fix this.  
And so the two of them parted that night around 12:45. Each feeling lighter than they did before.  
And no  
Steve never found Dustin's cat...

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment to let me know what you think! Thanks


End file.
